Process of making shoes.



H. G. GALER y 'PROCESS oF MAKING sHoEs. y APPLIOATIO FILED APR. 13,` 1914. 1,1 10,8815, v Patented VSept- 15, 1914; 1

j A? 'e H. G. CALEP.

PROCESS 0F MAKING SHOES. APPLICATION HLED APB. 1s. 19-14.V

1,110,885, 4 l Patented sept.15,1914.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w'zesses;

so stil'ener that it is convex on the under side,

the kind'known as slippers or pumps.Y

In shoes yof this character, the counter is i -relied-on,ipractically wholly, lto hold the- 15 .shoe from slipping at the heel when worn, so thatit isv Adesirable to have the edges of the upper,.about the foot opening, fit or bedrawn against the sides of the foot as closely as possible, wheii on the foot, and, to this end, and to fthe end, also, that the appearance of the shoe, beforeit is worn, maybe l improved, it is desirable that lthese shoes be so made that the oppositeedges of the up-. per will 'be-"drawn together as closely as possible,`. f

a In shoes-of the above .type it is customary to Vemploy a shank stifener whichrextends I from the rearend ofthe' shoe to the Vfront end of thersliank, andit has further been customary so to mold the heel part ofthe to correspond to the concaved 'recess formed in the base of the heel on the bottom of which vthe heel .of the sole rests.

I have ascertained that in the manufacture of shoes of the above described char ,/acter, employing in their construction, stiffenei's, the heel portions of which are either flat, or are molded toconform to the concavity of the heel, z'. e., convex .on 'their' under side, certain difficulties are encountered which have an important effect on the' l final results which are secured. The more important of these is the diiiiculty in forminga uniformly'at 'seat for the reception of-the heel, and the difliculty in' -preventing the counter and sides'o'f the upper from being' spread\outward when the heel is attached. f .The diiculty in forming,'and the frequent Afailure to orma'. level seat for the reception of the heel, is lar elydue to Ythe fact that, when a'shank sti ener is employed which is so molded that it is conf vex .on the under side, the middle portion of the heel of the sole is forced out'beyond thelevel of its edge portion, so that, in the rnocnssor irak-ING'SHO'ES."

than before, .Y Y I accomplish this object, primarily, by. 'f' providinga formof shank stiiener, which, :1 10 instead of being. molded. so that it ,is colfz'.; y-vexoii-the under side, is `'convex on theupf y' Patented sept.' 15,1914;

beating-out rocess, this middle portion, .which is hig est,'receives".the main force of the blows of the beating-out hammer,

instead of the edge portion. Also, if spe- V cial pains'istaken -to potind'down or-.level the 1nturned ed 'elportion of the counter, against, which t e edge of the heel is-to rest, eventually it is lfound vthat vsuch por- .l i tion is not supported Qwithsufiicient firm-,65

,nessf'tofenable this Aportion .to 'be beaten down to a level surface; The result is that,

tion is not' properly'leveled.4

in practically all siichcases, the edge por- I so thattthe .edge ofthe. heel` may rest directly'. onf-:theinturned edge of th'upper andconter', and, consequently, if the heel seat formed by lsaid inturnedjedge ortion is-not properly leveled the edge 'of t e heel.

Qwill not bear againstthe heel seatat all' 'points,'so that4 a tight 'joint will notv be l 'formed therebetween when the heel -is attached, making it Vneoessarythat ,these'parts 80 be pressed together. at a subsequent. operaf,v

rtion,which' usually Vconsists in forcinv theparts together by a press, orother suitable means, with. the result that the sides ofthek l I shoe opening are frequentlyspread and the tread of the shoe4 is 'affected to. an ,objec ,tionable extent. This resultyis caused through the fact that, when an open joint between the rearV portion of.. the' heel andy Y Y the heel seat'isto .be pressed together,.the 90 Afront end of the heel acts as a pivot'for .the-sole, vso that, asl the portion in the rear- Y is pressed down, the. forepart of thesole Will be pressed up, causingthe sides ofthe. i uppenlto be spread\apa rt and theball of Q5 the sole toi be movedrout. of-the plane .of

the-top 1ift,`s'o that the shoe no Vlonger treads properly, l

The object of my inventionfis to'lprovi'ide an improved method of manufacturing 100,

shoes of the above describedtype, whereby vthe difficulties above referred4 tomay be obviated, and whereby, whentheheel is -attached, the counter may be .drawn inwardly,

so that it Awill fit more closely about vthe heel of the'wearer, and thesides of the up. per will be Before attaching a wooden heel, th'e edge 70 'portion of the heel of the,.sole is cut away,

drawn .together' 1nore'. closely@Vi i f lper side, so that the margin of the heel seat is supported above the. level -of the middle portion of thesole 'during the beat-. ing-out operation, thereby enabling the heel seat tobe properly leveled and the difficulties hereinbefore' noted to 'be avoided,

' andfurtlier Aenabling Vthe counter to' be drawninward when the'heel is attac-hed;

- For a more complete understanding of.

the means and method which I employ,

` reference is fmade to the accompanying ishoe showing the saineinldiiferent 'stages of thepi'ocess of manufacture. Fig. 4 is a per.V y spective view of the heel portion of the shoe drawings, vforming a partof this specifica- 'tion, in which- Figures 1, 2, 3, 5r and are transverse sectional `views through the heel-portion of a just before the heel'is attached. Fig.' 7- is a longitudinal centralsection, and Fig. 8 aside .elevation of'a nishedshoe, andFigs.

f 4-9 and 10V are edge-elevations and longitudi- -nal sectional views respectively of the shank stifener, which I employ. n Y

" In .1'.l1e'drawin`g, a indicates, an ordinary wood'Y heel, havinga concave base-portion and b the outersole of thel shoe to .which the upper o, the counter d,l and the lining e, are

attached, by sewing when-the shoe is'turned wrong-side but, such shoes beging vusually made by the turn process.

VA shankfstilener, f, is provided, which usually; made of leather-board, or similar leXiblestiiTening' material, saidfs'tiiener being 'arranged vonthe inner Iside ofthe outerksole and extended from therear end thereof forwardly tothe front end of the-shank. According to my invention, vinstead of molding the heelportion'f, of the stiiener 40 so 'that 'it isf'convex'- on its under side, I mold the same-so thatv it is convex on the upper `side Aand therefore concave on the under side, forlthe purpose which will now beexthestiffener 'f is inserted vin the shoe, as

shown in Fig'. 1, and is secured tothe sole by-a -nail ja., which isdriven through the middle portion' ofi'the heel parts thereof. This causesthe edge portion of the stiifener to' be ressed firmly against the edge-portion o the heel ofthe sole, and as the sole f is Ythen in .temper and is much more easily bent than the stiffener, said edge-.portion of the sole is pressed outwardly, 'as' indicated The shoe is relas'ted and leveled orbeatenout, and, Awhen the heelseat leveled, the

pressure or lblows of the hammer willA be brought to bear principally'on'the edge portion of the sole, which is -yieldinglysupported above the middle portion thereof by thel then upturned edge portion of the stifener. As these edge portions are 'beaten down to the the inturned' edge of the counter, l' whichl Y practically constitutes the heel seat, will -be forced down irml;r onto .the edge portion of the'stiifener and-will be madelevel .and uniform, and -a sharp Vbend- `or shoulder willbe formed therein at the :7o edge of the stilfener, as indicated in Fig. 3..

The shoe, "which was previously in temper,

is then permitted to'dry on the last, so that 'the parts will approximately retain the shapel in Which'theyare thus held.

i .75 If a wood heel is to .be attached, the edge portion of the sole is then cut away, so' that .A

the intui'ned, countervportion directly therebeneath, at the point where itwas sharply l bent inwardV and leveled byl the leveling process, is exposed, as shown in Fig. 4, and then the heel is placed. in positionthereon,

so that itsv base edge bears directly against Y i the sharp shoulder, o r bend formed in the cunter by the leveling process, as shown in- Fig'. 5.

It may be here noted' that, when the vforms of stiffei'i'er, which have been previously employed, are usedeither the heel ofthesole bears on the base of the heel entirely across the same,l or it bears on the rsriV middle of the heel, so that the edge'thereof is prevented from firmly engaging the edge of the heel seat.4 In the first instance, if the edge of the heel does not firmly engage the.

edge oftheheel seat at every point around it, there is no tendency to close the joint tightly yat such point, when the heel is attached, and, in the -second instance, ythe middle portion of the sole will hold the heel seat and the heel edge out of contact, so lthat they will have to be drawn together. In doing this the counter will be spread open, so that, when `the shoe is worn, it will not closely'grasp the heel.' Also, this spreading action will enlarge the whole opening-of the shoe, andthe sole is also likelyy to',A be swung so that it will not tread, before explai ed. f

W'hen the form of stilfener, which is nor-v mally convex on' the inner side or side oppositefromjthe heel, is employed, while-the `heel ofthewsole will not be drawn inwardlyat its4 middle portion by the stirener to as 'great an extent as before -relasting,` yet it will be'drawn in slightly, so that in practically allinstances the middle portion of f the sole will be held at somedistance fromthe middle portion of the heel base, as indicated in Fig. 5.

With the parts thus arranged', a number of attaching nails i are driven throughithe stifi'ener and sole into the heel, causin the, middle heel-part of the sole ando the only j force these edge portions firmly' ytogether, so `as to form a tight`joint,'but will also cause said edge portion to be drawn or swung inward, thuscausing the counter, the

inturned edge of Awhich is clamped between the sole and stifener, to be swung inwardly to a corresponding extent, as indicated in a correspondin ing the width o 'said opening, a result which lis greatly desired. I u

Fig. 6.' The result is that the counter is lirmly set in-this indrawn position, not only causing it to fit tightly about-theheel of the wearer, but also acting todraw the sides of. thezuppe'r aboutthe shoe opening inward to extent, materially decreas- It maybe noted in this connection, that,- where. the oppositely dished., or molded stiffener is'employed, s'o that the heel part,

` of the sole and stiifene'r` conforms valmost ex- 20 attachment, when the heel is' attached, there actly to the concavity of theheel base before is no inward bending of the` sole andv counter which would-tend tofswing the .counter in- Ward.

As theuniform and accurate leveling of the heel seat ismade possible by the action of the stii'ener in forcingv theksame. .outwardly and providing a suitable support therefor during the'levelingl process, and as the .heel seat 'and edge of the heel a-re closely drawn together by the attaching 7 process, as previously explained, a continuous tight joint is formed between-the heel and heel seat, which will be in a. straight line with the edge .of the shank--portion'of the sole, as indicatedin Fig. 8. A'

-l'Vhle the above descrbed'methodand construction is particularly advantageous with shoes having wood heels, itv is also advantageous withshoes to which leather or leather-board heelsl are attached, althou h perhaps-not to such amarked degree, or

,the reason,that, with heels of this class, the

joint which is closed in 'the attaching operation is betweenthe heel and sol'e, and not.

between the heel .and upper, the sole edge i 'not beingcutaway as indicated in Fig. 4,

so that the diiculties encountered are not as great.

I claim: 1. The method of ymaking shoes which consists in yieldingly supporting theedge-.

portion of the heel-seat of the shoe above the level of the supportv for the middle portion ofthe' heel of the sole and leveling said heel-seat edge-portion by forcing the same onto said yielding support.v

2. The method of making shoes which consists in providing a flexible supporting plate, for the heel-seat vof the shoe, concavely curved on its sidenext the seat to provide a yielding support for the edgeportion thereof above the level lat which it supprts the middle portion of the' heel of ythe sole, and leveling said'heel-seat edgeportion` by forcing the same onto theedgeportion of said plate.

3; The.' 'method' of making shoes which consists in yieldinglyI supporting the` edgeportion of the heel-seat of the shoe above the level of the -middle 4portion of the sole by -a fiexible. stifener of flat material'and molded so that'it is concaved on its side next the lheel-seat., leveling said* heel-seat edge-portion by forcing thesame onto the 4edge-'portion v ofthe Astiien'er and then attachingv the heel to the heel-seat and at the same time drawing nthe middle portion of the heel of the sole into the concavity in thel base of the 'heel' and bending` inwardly the edge-portion of the sole, and causing the counter to be drawn inwardly to contract 

